Kiln gun



April 4, 1961 R. T. CATLIN ETAL KILN GUN 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 27, 1958 INVENTORS m w A C .L T R E B O R ARTHUR J. LANDA April 4, 1961 R. 'r. CATLIN ETAL KILN GUN Fil ed March 27, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG.6

INVENTORS ROBERT T- CATLIN ARTHUR J. LANDA FIG .7

pact of the slugs or bullets.

KILN GUN Filed Mar. 27, 1958, Ser.No. 724,287

7 Claims. (Cl. 89-24) The present invention relates to firearms, and particularly-to that type of firearms known as cement kiln guns and which are adapted to be removably mouutedupon one end of a cylindrical cement kiln for the purpose of removing clinker rings and other obstructions adhering to the inside of the kiln. This type of gun is disclosed in its general principles of design and operation in United States patents to G. H. Garrison for Burning Kiln, No. 1,767,281, issued June 24, 1930; and to C. C. Loomis for Extractor-Ejector for Firearms, No. 2,415,952, issued February 18, 1947.

' "In operation of kiln guns of the type disclosed by the referenced patents, the great heat at the point of operation and the economic desirability of keeping the shutdown period of the kilns at a minimum require that a maximum rate of fire be established and maintained in order to remove the clinker rings as rapidly as possible. In order to do this, these guns are usually operated-by a team of about three persons, one of whom does nothing but manipulate the breech operating handle. As will be understood this task is the most laborious part of the gun operating cycle. The other men in the team load and fire, and position the gun to shift the points of im- One difiiculty has been the forcible ejection of the fired shells against the team member sighting and shifting the gun.

-It is an object-of the present invention to eliminate the laborious task of manual operation of the breech and substantially increase the rae of fire by providing a safe and reliable power operating mechanism for the breech. 7

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved kiln gun that is safe, and efiicient in operation yet rugged in construction to withstand rough handling. With the above and other objects in view, an embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, and this embodiment will be hereinafter more fully described with reference thereto, and the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

t Figure 1 is a side elevation of a firearm according 'to the invention, shown in its operative relation upon the end of a cement kiln. Figure 2 is a side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the breech block end of the firearm, the breech block I shown in its lowered open position.

Figure 3 is a partial vertical longitudinal section through the breech block end of the firearm taken at line 33 of Figure 6, with parts broken away for a clearer showing of the mechanism. 7

Figure 4 is a partial vertical transverse section through the breechblock end'of the firearm taken at line 44 of Figure 3, certain parts broken away for. a clearer presentation. I

. Figure 5 is a plan view of the breech block end of the firearm.

Figure 6 is a horizontal longitudinal section taken F atentecl Apr. 4,1961

through the breech block end of the firearm at line 6-6 of Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a vertical transverse section taken through the breech block end of the firearm at line 7-7 of Figure 1.

Similar reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the cement kiln 10 is provided in its end with an opening 11 below which there is secured an I-beam 12 upon which is mounted a bolster 13. Removably engaged in the bolster are the trunnion supports 14 of the bed 15 of the gun assembly, a supporting arm 16 being pivotally connected to the trunnion supports 14 and adapted to rest at its lower end against the face of the kiln, and an extensible turnbuckle connection 17 being pivotally connected between the underside of the bed and the lower end of the arm 16 which uponbeing turned by means of handwheel 18 imparts a vertical swinging movement to the bed 15 about the trunnion supports 14 to pivotally shift the axis of the gun vertically.

Upon the bed 15 there is mounted a cradle 19, pivotally connected thereto at its forward end by a vertical pivot stud and adapted to be laterally shifted about the stud by means of the traverse screw 21 engaged through an arcuate slot in the bed and secured in the base of the cradle in a'Well known manner. A handle 24 is providedupon the lower end of the traverse bolt to tighten it to secure the position of lateral adjustment of the cradle, and to loosen it to permit actuation of the traverse screw to impart lateral swinging movement to the cradle. The cradle is provided with a rearwardly projecting platform portion 25, having a fiat horizontal upper surface upon which the yoke member 26 of the gun is mounted for sliding movement under recoil action of the gun, a handle extension being provided at its rearward end for the convenient manipulation of the gun. The gun barrel 28 is secured in a pocket 29 in the yoke by means of a conventional barrel not not shown and extends forwardly through apertured standards 31 and 32 provided on the cradle, recoil and counterrecoil springs 33 and 34 being engaged about the barrelbetween the standards 31 and 32 at each side of a spring spacer 35 removably secured upon the barrel.

The yoke 26 is provided with a vertically disposed breech block passage of rectangular outline and with its forward wall coincidental to the rearward end of the gun barrel with the shell receiving chamber 37 of the barrel opening therein. Rearwardly of the passage 36 the yoke the base of which there is provided a slot in which the hammer releasing seat 40 is pivotally mounted upon a pivot pin 41, being pivotally connected to a shackle 42 provided with a lanyard eye bolt 43 extended through a passage 44 and to which a lanyard may be connected, the sear being normally pressed forwardly by means of a spring 46.

The breech block 47 is of rectangular cross section and is mounted for vertical reciprocation in the passage 36, its lower end projecting below the yoke into an opening in the platform extension 25 of the cradle, where-it is provided with a transverse rotary stud shaft 48 having its projecting end engaged in the slot 50 of an operating arm 51, this arm being engaged at its forward end in a slot extended forwardly from the opening in the platform portion 25 and mounted for swinging movement therein upon a transverse operating shaft 53 provided upon its outer end with'an operating lever 54. Rearward swinging of the operating lever 54 swings the operating arm 51 downwardly to thereby impart downward opening movement to the breech block. Upward movement of the operating arm and operating lever moves the breech block upwardly to close the breech.

operating cylinder.

The breech block is provided with a spring retractable firing pin 59 and a hammer 60, the latter being mounted upon a pin 61 within a vertical pocket in the rearward side of the breech block and adapted to be engaged with the end of the firing pin through the action of a vertically movable spring actuated plunger 62 provided in the breech block. The hammer is provided with a tooth 63 which in the lowered position of the breech block is in vertical line with the tooth'of the sear 40 so that as the breech block is raised to its closed position'the tooth 63 is engaged by the scar and the hammer is swung in counterclockwise direction to its cocked position preliminary to firing, as shown in Figure 2, being released through retraction of scar 40. A vertical support plate 110 is mounted on cradle 19 by bolts 111. Secured to support plate 111) is a shuttle valve unit 116 to which is led a supply of high pressure air by means of flexible conduit 128, control valve 127 and conduit element 126. Shuttle valve unit 116 controls the flow of high pressure air selectively to either of two flexible conduit members 117 or 118. Conduit member 117 is operatively connected to the forward end of a lever operating cylinder 112 which is pivotally secured to plate 110 at 113. A piston member 114 is slidably mounted in the cylinder for reciprocation therein. The piston member 114 is pivotally connected to the operating lever 54 at 115. The conduit member 118 is operatively connected to the rear end of the lever When shuttle valve unit 116 directs the high pressure air through conduit 117 to the forward end of cylinder 112, the piston 114 is moved rearwardly to actuate lever 54 and open the breech. When the shuttle valve directs high pressure air through conduit 118 to the rear end of cylinder 112, the piston 114 is moved forwardly to actuate lever 54 and close the breech. The diversion of the high pressure air into conduit 117 or 118 is controlled in a conventional manner by two pressure relief or release valve units 129 and 122 also'mounted upon support plate 110 and connected to the shuttle valve unit 116 by flexible conduit members 119 and 121 respectively.

Relief valve unit 129 is actuated by pressure on push button 120 to reduce air pressure on one side of the shuttle valve unit and cause high pressure air to be directed to the rear end of cylinder 112 via conduit 118 to move the piston and lever forwardly to close the breech.

Relief valve unit 122 is actuated by the pressure of a spring finger 124 against push button 123 of the unit to reduce air pressure on the other side of the shuttle valve unit and cause high pressure air to be directed to the forward end of cylinder 112 via conduit 117 to move the piston and lever rearwardly to open the breech. The opening of the breech causes extraction and ejection of the fired shell from the chamber in the known manner.

The spring finger 124 is fixed to a collar .125 which surrounds the barrel and partakes of recoil and counterrecoil movement. The spring finger is so positioned that it will engage the push button 123 only at the forward extreme of its counterrecoil movement after the firing of a round.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, it can be seen that the sear element 40 has been provided with a forwardly and laterally projecting toe portion 133 which is engaged by the upper end of an adjustable screw abutment 131 carried by a bracket 130 on the movable breech block 47 during the upper portion of the breech block during motion. As will be understood from the drawings the engaging of the sear toe portion 133 by the screw abutment 131 will pivot the sear clockwise as shown in Figure 3 to release the hammer and fire the gun. In other words, closing of the breech block will automatically release the scar and fire a shell in the chamber.

Member 190 mounted at the breech end of the gun is an ejected shell case deflector consisting of a sloping deflector portion and two forwardly projecting side arm portions which are pivotally connected to platform portion 25 of the cradle 19so that the deflector may be swung up out of the way when manipulating the gun by the use 4 of the handle 27. Ejected shells, instead of being ejected directly to the rear in random fashion are engaged by the deflector portion of member 190 and caused to drop directly beneath the rear portion of the gun where they may be conveniently collected in a suitable receptacle as B in Figure 1.

The operation of the improved gun will now be described.

The gun initial or rest position is illustrated by Figure 2, in which the piston 114 and operating lever 54 are in their rcarmost position and the breech block is in its lower or open position. With the parts in this position, a shell is loaded into the chamber 37 and push button 120 actuated to operate relief valve 129 which causes the shuttle valve unit 116 to direct the high pressure air through conduit 118 to'the rear end of cylinder 112 and move the piston and operating lever forwardly to close the, breech block. As the breech block reaches its closed or uppermost position, the sear is disengaged from the hammer by the interengagernent of screw abutment 131 on the breech block with toe portion 133 on the sear, and the gun is fired.

Upon being fired, the recoiling gun parts move to the rear to about the position R shown in dotted lines in Figure 1 against the force of recoil spring 33. After the recoil energy is expended, recoil spring 33 forces the recoiling gun parts, to which spring finger 124 is secured, forwardlyin counterrecoil movement through the initial position against the force of counterrecoil spring 34 to the position C indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1. At this forward most point in counterrecoil movement, the spring finger 124 engages push button 123 of relief valve unit 122. This causes the shuttle valve unit 116 to direct high pressure air through conduit 117 to the forward end of cylinder 112 which moves the piston 114 and operating lever 54 to the rear, opening the breech block and ejecting the fired shell in a known manner. The reliefvalve units, shuttle valve unit, and cylinder piston assembly are conventional elements, widely used, and familiar to those skilled in the art, For this reason they are not described in detail.

It will be understood that by delaying the opening of the breech until counterrecoil movement occurs, there is no danger of opening the breech on a misfired or delayed-combustion cartridge which might thereafter explode. The breech cannot be opened until a cartridge has fired.

Operation of the gun of the present invention requires an operator to load the cartridge into the chamber and merely press the push button 120. No other action is required.

In compliance with the Patent Statutes the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but it is to be understood that various modifications and changes could be made therefrom by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A firearm comprising in combination a cradle assembly, a recoiling barrel assembly slidably mounted on said cradle assembly, said recoiling barrel assembly comprising a yoke, said yoke having a transverse breech block passage therein, a barrel engaged in said yoke and having a shell receiving chamber opening into said passage, and a breech block slidably movable in said passage to open and close said chamber; a shell firing mechanism comprising a firing pin and resiliently urged firing pin actuating means mounted in said breech block, sear means for controlling the release of said firing pin actuating means, and interengaging means cooperating between said breech block and said sear means to automatically release said firing pin actuating means as said breech block is moved to closed position, power means for operating said breech block between open and closed positions with respect to said shell receiving chamber and comprising a first control unit manually actuatable to" cause said power means to move said breech block from the open to the closed position with respect to said shell receiving chamber and actuate said shell firing mechanism, and a second control unit operated by completion of a recoil-counter recoil cycle of barrel movement to actuate said power means to move said breech block from the closed to the open position automatically in response to the firing of a shell in said chamber, said second control unit comprising a first member mounted on said barrel assembly anda second member mounted on said cradle assembly and operatively engageable by said first member.

2. A firearm comprising incombination a support structure and a recoiling barrel assembly slidably mounted therein, said recoiling barrel assembly comprising a yoke having a transverse breech block passage therein, a barrel engaged in said yoke and having a shell-receiving chamber opening into said passage, a breech block slidably movable in said passage to open and close said chamber and a shell firing mechanism comprising a firing pin and resiliently urged firing pin actuating means mounted in said breech block, sear means for controlling the release of said firing pin actuating means, and interengaging means cooperating between said breech block and said sear means to automatically release said firing pin actuating means as said breech block is moved to closed position; reciprocating power drive means operatively connected to said breech block to move the same between open and closed positions with respect to said chamber, a first control means associated with said power drive means to actuate said power drive means to move said breech block from said open to said closed position, firing the gun; and a second control means associated with said power drive means operated by completion of a recoil-counter recoil cycle of barrel movement to actuate said power drive means to move said breech block from said closed position to open position automatically in response to the firing of the firearm, said second control means comprising a first member mounted on said recoiling barrel assembly and a second member mounted on said support structure and operatively engageable by said first member.

3. In a gun having a mount, and a recoiling barrel assembly comprising a yoke member, a barrel secured to said yoke member, and a breech block for transverse sliding movement with respect to said barrel; a shell firing mechanism comprising a firing pin and resiliently urged firing pin actuating means mounted in said breech block, sear means for controlling the release of said firing pin actuating means, and interengaging means cooperating between said breech block and said sear means to automatically release said firing pin actuating means as said breech block is moved to closed position, a power drive means connected to said breech block manually actuatable to move the breech block into breech closing position and, fire the gun and actuated automatically by the firing movement of the gun and completion of a recoil-counter recoil cycle to move the breech block to its open position, said power drive means including a first actuator member mounted on said recoiling barrel assembly and a second actuator member mounted on said mount and operatively engageable by said first actuator member.

4. A firearm comprising a cradle assembly, a recoilingbarrel assembly slidably mounted thereon, said recoiling barrel assembly comprising a yoke, said yoke having a transverse breech block passage therein, a barrel engaged with said yoke and having a shell receiving chamber opening into said passage, a breech block slidably mounted in said passage for movement between an open 6 said breech block, sear means for controlling the release of said firing pin actuating means, and interengaging means cooperating between said breech block and said sear means to automatically release said firing pin actuating means as said breech block is moved to closed posi-,

tion; a pressure fluid operated power drive means mounted on said cradle assembly and operatively connected to said breech block to move the same between its open and closed positions, a first manually actuatable control unit for said power drive means operative to cause said power drive means to move said breech block from said open to said closed position and operate said firing pin actuating means to fire a shell in said chamber, and a second control means to automatically actuate said power drive means to move said breech block from said closed to said open position and eject the fired shell in response to completion of a recoil-counter recoil cycle of motion of the barrel assembly, said second control means comprising a first member mounted on said barrel assembly and a second member mounted on said cradle assembly and operatively engageable by said first member.

5. In a combination with a firearm comprising a cradle assembly, a recoiling barrel assembly slidably mounted thereon, said recoiling barrel assembly comprising a yoke having a transverse breech block passage therein, a barrel engaged with said yoke and having a shell receiving chamber opening into said passage, a breech block slidably mounted in said passage for movement between an open and a closed position with respect to said chamber, a firing pin and a firing pin hammer element movably mounted in said breech block, resilient means urging said hammer toward said firing pin, sear means movably mounted on said yoke to releasably engage said hammer element, an abutment on said breech block, a cam surface mounted on said sear element and engageable with said abutment when said breech block is in the closed position to release said sear from said hammer and allow said resilient means to urge said firing pin into position to fire a shell in said chamber, reciprocating power drive means mounted on said cradle assembly and connected with said breech block, said power drive means manually controlled -to move said breech block from said open to said closed position to fire the gun and automatically actuated by recoil movement of the gun to reverse its movement and move said breech block from said closed position to said open position.

6. In a combination with a firearm comprising a cradle assembly, a recoiling barrel assembly slidably mounted thereon, said recoiling barrel assembly comprising a yoke having a transverse breech block passage therein, a barrel engaged with said yoke and having a shell receiving chamber opening into said passage, a breech block slidably mounted in said passage for movement between an open and a closed position with respect to said chamber, a firing pin and a firing pin hammer element movably mounted in said breech block, resilient means urging said hammer toward said firing pin, sear means movably mounted on said yoke to releasably engage said hammer element, an abutment on said breech block, a cam surface mounted on said sear element and engageable with said abutment when said breech block is in the closed position to release said sear from said hammer and allow said resilient means to urge said firing pin into position tofire a shellin said chamber, reciprocation power drive means mounted on said cradle assembly and connected with said breech block, said power drive means manually controlled to move said breech block from said open to said closed positionto fire the gun and automatically actuated by recoil movement of the gun to reverse its movement and move said breech block from said closed position to said open position, said power drive means comprising apressure fluid driven piston slidably received in a cylinder and a control valve means having a first manually actuatable member and a second member actuated by recoil movement of the recoiling barrel assembly so that the breech block cannot be moved by said power means from said closed position until the firearm has been fired.

7. In combination with a firearm comprising a cradle assembly and a recoiling barrel assembly slidably mounted thereon, breech mechanism for opening and closing the breech end of said barrel, and power drive means mounted on said cradle assembly and operatively connected to said breech mechanism, said power drive means including a fluid pressure driven motor element, manually actuatable control valve means to initiate operation of said motor element in a direction to close said breech mechanism and automatically actuatable control means to initiate operation of said motor element in a direction to open said breech mechanism, said automati- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 311,973 Gatling Feb. 10, 1885 2,410,116 Vickers Oct. 29, 1946 2,415,952 ,Loomis Feb. 18, 1947 2,779,242 Willhauck Jan. 29, 1957 

